As a sign of the changed atmosphere facing mixed-use developers, Newton Oldacre McDonald has revised the design of the Nashville West Shopping Center.
According to the agenda for Thursday's Metro Planning Commission meeting, the developers have increased the overall square footage of the project but removed 24 residential units that were planned to go above retail shops.
The shopping center's increase from 521,921 square feet to 527,458 square feet was made largely to accommodate more restaurant space.
“Now that we have two years of experience since Costco opened, we have a much better feeling of the realities of the marketplace,” said Phil Martin of Mercatus Communications, the firm representing the developer. “It's basically a response to what the consumer in the neighborhood wants.”
Should the area housing market improve in the future, the developers will look to reincorporate the housing into later phases of the project, Martin added.
The new plans also seek to rearrange the pedestrian-friendly design of the original plans on two parcels of land. Whereas the initial design had buildings along the access drive, the redesign places the buildings further back on the land and lines the drive with parking.
But Metro Planning staffers are recommending that the buildings stay along the drive. The developers are willing to work on a compromise, Martin said.
“They've certainly suggested some changes and we're amenable to those changes,” he said. “We'll make whatever compromises that we need to that are in the best interests of the community.”
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